A Haunting in Venice

As a mainstay of the British film industry for 30 years, it made sense when Kenneth Branagh was drawn to Agatha Christie – having already found success in adaptations of Shakespeare, Mary Shelley and Cinderella. And there was great pressure in moving on to Hercule Poirot, a character whose stories already have a history of film and TV adaptations, and an iconic figure in the demure form of David Suchet. With all his swagger and bravado, though, Branagh went ahead and took on the role himself in 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, out-moustacheing any previous version of the character with a gravity-defying piece of face upholstery. The upcoming film takes its cue from Christie’s Hallowe’en Party, transposing a costume party from an English manor house to spooky, shadowy Venice. Living out his retirement in the city, Poirot attends a seance one night in a grand palazzo: only to find the detective’s curse returning when a guest is murdered.

The trailer promises all the treats we expect from a whodunnit like this, with silkily opulent production design and a truly all-star cast featuring the likes of Michelle Yeoh, Tina Fey and Jamie Dornan. The sleuthing skills of Poirot are rarely in doubt, so the real question will be… can YOU figure out the murderer before he reveals his explanation?

Max King